Value-printing apparatus



Oct. 5, 1954 K. AuRBAcH VALUE-PRINTING APPARATUS 6 Sheets-Sheet l FiledNov. 1.9,J 1951 [n1/enfan- Kur'r Au rboch ATTORNEYS Oct. 5, 1954 K.AURBACH 2,690,710

VALUE-PR1NT1NG APPARATUS Filed Nov. 19, 1951 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 '3J/vvENToR Imm Oct. 5, 1954 Filed NOV. 19, 1951 K. AURBACH VALUE-PRINTINGAPPARATUS 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Kurt Aurboch myn M ATTORNEY Oct. 5, 1954 K.AURBACH 2,690,710

VALUE PRINTING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 19, 195]. 6 Sheets-Shea?l 4 MANIF5L/43.15

17.6.50 1. ARNHEM Inl/enfer.'

Kurt Aurboch mii/ M ATTORN EYS Oct. 5, 1954 K. AURBAbH VALUE-PRINTINGAPPARATUS Filed NOV. 19, 1951 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 fmfenar: Kurt Aurbcach BYM Oct. 5, 1954 K. AURBACH 2,690,710

VALUE-PRINTING APPARATUS med Nov. 19, 1951 @sheets-sheet s I'hvent or!Kum-t Ana-bull B3 www.

Patented Oct. 5, 1954 UNITED STATS ArtNr OFFICE VALUE -PRINIINGAPPARATUS poration of Germany Application November 19, 1951, Serial No.257,083

Claims priority, application Germany December 1, 1950 9 Claims. l

My invention. relates to value printing machines in which a value,determined by the setting or operation of adding mechanisms, is printedupon vouchers or other imprintable matter placed against a guiding orfeeding device.

It is an object of my invention to provide a value-printing apparatuswhich permits the use of imprintable mattei' with a print-receivingsurface subdivided into a plurality of areas, and which is capable ofseparately printing a plurality of impressions upon such a selectedindividual area of smallest possible dimensions.

To this end, and in accordance with one of the features of my invention,I provide the typecarrying members (type members) and the pertainingcounter members (platen members) of the printing apparatus with aconnecting transmission of such a ratio that the type members, thoughperforming a plurality of revolutions, can produce only one imprintduring the passage of the object to be imprinted.

According to a more specific feature of my invention, I provide a row ofmutually spaced, rotary printing devices whose respective printingoperations occur sequentially so as to successively place the respectiveimpressions upon the one selected area While the object is passing alongthe printing devices in the alignment direction of the row; and Ifurther interconnect the type member and the pertaining platen member ofeach printing device by a transmission whose transmission ratio isdifferent from unity, so that each device produces only one imprint inthe proper paper area although its type' member performs more than onerevolution during a single passage of the paper.

According to another feature of the invention, relating especially to anapparatus with three coordinated printing devices aligned along the pathof the object, the above-mentioned transmission between the two coactivemembers of each device has a 'transmission ratio of 2:3.

According to a further feature of my invention, the release of themachine and hence the rotation of the printing device is controlled byva feeler engageable by the paper to be imprinted,

and this feeler is also designed as a setting device for placing theselected surface area of the print-y receiving object into the properposition.

The foregoing and other objectives and features of my invention areapparent from the following description of the embodiment exemplied bythe drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the printing apparatus of avalue-printing machine;

Fig. 2 is a cross section. through part of the same apparatus, thesection being taken substantially along the line-denoted by II--II inFig. l;

Fig. 3 is a view of the feeler and setting device pertaining to the sameapparatus, this view taken from the top at the righthand side of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 shows an example of a record sheet of paper or cardboard with asubdivided multipleentry el'd, suitable for use with the illustratedmachine;

Fig. 5 is a verticalY sectional view of the apparatus showing thedriving transmission of the printing devices;

Fig. 6 shows a cross section along the line VI- VI indicated in Fig. 5and is a continuation` of Fig. 2 when placed at the right-hand side ofthe latter ligure, and

Fig. 7 is a separate illustration of details including those apparentinthe lower right corner of Fig. 1 and partly also shown in Fig. 3.

The illustrated printing apparatus has a housing I mounted on ahorizon-tal plate 2 with two rows of openings 3 and 3a (Figs. 1, 2).Located beneath the plate 2v and spaced therefrom-v a distancecorresponding tothe thickness of the card, paper or other matter to beimprinted, is another horizontal plate ll'- (Figs. l, 2, 7) withopenings 5 and 5a adjacent to the respective openings 3 and 3a. of plate2. Two feed rollers 6 (Figs. 1, 2), mounted on respective hubs 7 (Fig.2), are disposed beneath eachpair of openings 5 and 5u (Fig. 2). Thehubs 'lof each roller pair are pinned onto a common shaft 8 (Figs. 2, 1,5', 6). Three of the feed roller pairs are joined with a revolvableplaten member 9 (Figs. 1, 2). Each platen member has a single radialprojection (Fig. l) which extends over only a small portion of theperiphery to act as the platen area proper. The remaining pair of feedrollers 6, located at the right-hand side of the apparatus as shown inFig. 1,` is not equipped With a platen member as it cooperates only witha pair of auxiliary feed rollers En; (Figs. 1, 3, 7).

In Figs. 1` and 2 the feed rollers 6 are illustrated in the inactiveposition. For lifting the feed rollers 6 and' platen members 9 to theactive' position, each of the pertaining shafts 8: is journalled in anarm I'Il pivoted on a shaft I I. Each arm has an extension I2 joinedwith a spring I3 which tends to move the arm oounterclo'ckwise (Fig. 1')to the active position. The extensions I2 have respective pins IIIpassing through respective elongated holes i6 of a horizontallydisplaceable control bar I5 (Figs. 1, 5, 6). Fig. 1 shows the controlbar I5 in its rest position where it retains the feed rollers 6 andplaten members 9 in the inactive, lowered position. As will be furtherdescribed in a later place, the control bar I5 is actuated by themachine mechanism in such a manner that it moves toward the right(Fig. 1) at the beginning of an individual machine run and returns tothe illustrated position at the end of the run. Hence, duiing themachine operation, the feed rollers and platen members are moved upwardto the active position by the force of the biasing springs I3 and thenenter through the openings 5 and 5a into the guide way between plates 2and 4.

The feed rollers 6 and platen members 9 cooperate with respective typemembers A, B and C (Fig. 1), each consisting of a composite drumstructure. Each of these drum structures has two axially spaced feedrollers I1 and I8 (Fig. 2) with intermediately located sets of typewheels. The type wheels of member A (Figs. 1, 2) indicate the amounts tobe printed. The type wheels 2I of member B (Fig. 1) denote the calendardate, and the type wheels 22 of member C (Fig. 1) indicate anidentifying member. The type wheels 2I and 22 are manually adjustable,for instance with the aid of rotatable buttons such as those shown at22a in Fig. 2. The type member C is also equipped with a cliche 22a(Fig. 1) adjacent to the type wheels 22. In each type member thepertaining type wheels are revolvable on a shaft, such as shaft 20a inFig. 2, which extends between the feed rollers I1, I8 of the type memberin eccentric relation to the axis of revolution of the type member.Hence, only the selected one type of each type wheel lies at theperiphery of the type member at a time and can produce an imprint whenit is in the lowermost position and when the platen area of thepertaining platen member 9 is in its uppermost position at the sametime.

As will be more fully explained, the platen member and type member ofeach printing device are actuated by a common drive whose transmissionratio between the two members is 2:3 so that the platen members 9 (Figs.1, 2) revolve three times while the type members perform only two fullrevolutions during each machine operation. During this operation, theselected types and the platen area pass only once through coincidentpositions so that only one impression is made by each printing device.

The types and the cliche are inked by inking rollers 23 (Figs. l, 2).The inking rollers 23 are journalled in respective arms 24 which arepivoted on stationary pivot pins 24 (Fig. 1) and are biased toward thetype members by means of respective springs 25. As the type wheelsduring the rotation of each type member A, B and C pass by thepertaining inking roller 23, this inking roller comes into engagementwith the one type of each type wheel that is to produce an imprint. Thetype wheels 20 of type member A are joined through concentric tubes 26(Fig. 2) with respective spur gears 21. The tubes 26 are freelyrevolvable relative to one another and relative to the shaft 20a, eachtube forming a rigid connection beween one type wheel and one of therespective gears 21. The gears can be brought into meshing engagementwith a set of coaxial and individually revolvable spur gears 28 (Figs.l, 2) which form part of a transmitting mechanism that comprises foreach of gears 28 a train of intermediate spur gears 29, 3l), 3| and 32(Fig. 1) The gears 28 are individually revolvable about a common shaft28a (Fig. 2) Similarly the sets of gears 29, 30, 3|, 32 are revolvableabout shafts 29a, 36a, 3Ia and 32a respectively (Fig. l). The shafts28a, 29a, 38a, 3Ia are all rigidly secured to a pivotally mountedsupport structure 231) (Figs. 1, 2).

Each of the gear trains 28 to 3| is driven by the pertaining gear 32(Figs. 1, 2). The gears 32 are mounted on respective tubes 32hconcentrically seated on shaft 32a and revolvable relative to oneanother (Fig. 2). Rotary motion is imparted to the tubes 32h from asetting mechanism (not illustrated) of known design as customary forbusiness machines. Such a setting mechanism, suitable for use with thepresent invention, is illustrated and described in U. S. Patent N0.1,954,694. Latch pawls 33 and 34 (Figs. 1, 2) are provided for securingthe gear trains 28 to 3| in the adjusted position. Further latch pawls35 (Figs. 1, 2) cooperate with the type wheels 26. After the type wheels20 are adjusted to the amount to be printed, the spur gears 28 aredisengaged from the spur gears 21 by shifting the support 28h and withit the geartrain mechanism counterclockwise about a pivot 31 (Fig. 1) sothat the spur gears 28 move from the position shown in Fig. l to theinactive position shown in Fig. 2. In the latter position, the typemember A is free to revolve and has its type wheels so adjusted that theamount to be printed appears on the individual types now located at theperiphery. When the support 28h is being shifted in the just-describedmanner, the spur gears 3I move downwardly out of engagement with thegears 32.

The shifting movement of support 28h is effected by means of a pin whichis firmly secured to the support 28h and engages a slot 89 of a lever88. Lever 88 has a lug 90 entering into a recess 9| of a disc 92 firmlymounted on the main drive shaft 53. Lug and disc 92 lock the main driveshaft as long as the support 2317 and its train of gears 28 to 3I are inthe illustrated position (Fig. 1). When the lever 88 is turnedcounterclockwise about its pivot, the support 28h is placed in geardisengaging position and the main shaft 53 is released for subsequentoperation of the printing devices A, B, C through the transmission gearmeans described in the following.

The drum structure of each type member with the pertaining feed rollerI8 is seated on and pinned to a shaft 31 (Figs. 1, 2). The shafts 31 arejournalled in a side wall portion 31a of the housing and carryrespective spur gears 38 (Figs. 5, 6). Two of the spur gears 38 meshwith a larger spur gear 39, while the remaining spur gear 38 is driventhrough an intermediate spur gear 40. During the operation of theprinting apparatus, the large gear 39 is driven to perform one completecounterclockwise revolution (Fig. 5). Since gear 39 has twice thediameter of gears 38, each gear 38 then performs wo complete clockwiserevolutions. Hence, the shaft 31 of respective type members A, B and Calso turn twice clockwise.

The one-revolution gear 39 is mounted on a sleeve 4I revolvable on astationary bearing pin 42 (Figs. 5, 6). The bearing pin is riveted to aside Wall 43 of the housing (Fig. 6). Also mounted on the sleeve 4I area cam disk 45 and a spur gear 46 (Figs. 5, 6). The sleeve 4I is held onpin 42 by means of a screw 4Ia. The parts 39, 44, 45 and 46 are rigidlyjoined with the sleeve 4I by pins 41 (Fig. 6). The spur gear 4B mesheswith a spur gear i3 (Figs. 5, 6) which is seated on a hub portion 49 ofa further spur gear 5B with which the gear 48 is rigidly joined byscrews 5l (Fig. 6). rIhe spur gear 50 is iirmly pinned on an extension52 of a shaft 53 (Figs. 6, 2). Shaft 53 is the main drive shaft so thatgear 5i] serves as the power input gear of the entire gear transmission.

Three spur gears 5d pinned on three respective shafts 8 (Figs. 5, 6) arein meshing engagement with the spur gears 38 of respective shafts 3l. Afourth spur gear 54 on the shaft 8 of the one feed roller 6 thatcooperates with the auxiliary feed roller 6a is linked with the adjacentspur gear 5d by an intermediate gear 65 (Fig. 5). As described, each ofshafts 8 is journalled near its. platen member and feed roller assemblyin a pivotally movable arm .5 (Figs. 1, 2) so that this shaft end can beraised and lowered under control by the horizontally displaceablecontrol bar i5. To permit such a shaft movement without interfering withthe shaft revolution, the other end of each shaft 8 is journalled in aswivel structure designed as follows.

As. shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the swivelled end of each shaft is joinedwith a bearing sleeve 59. The sleeves 55 are mounted on a frame 55 whoseshort-side portions are attached to the machine frame structure 58 bymeans of pivot pins 51. An abutment ring 6e prevents the respectiveshafts 8 from displacement relative to the frame 55. It will berecognized that by virtue of the swivel bearing, the left portion ofeach shaft 8 (Fig. 2) may be moved up and down about a pivot pointlocated at the right-hand end (Fig. 6) of the shaft 8 at the point wherethe pertaining driving gear 54 is located. Consequently, the gear 5d ofeach shaft is Virtually stationarily journalled and remains in meshingengagement with the gear transmission driven from the input gear i5(Fig. 5).

The control bar i5 (Figs. l, 5, 6) carries a pin Si (Figs. 5, 6)straddled by the bifurcated end (i2 of a lever 63. Lever 53 is pivotallymounted on a stationary pin Eli and carries a roller 55 which engagesthe cam disk 45 under the biasing force transmitted to the lever t3(Fig. 5) by pin 5l, slider i5, pins lli and arms l!) (Fig. 1) from thesprings i3. At the beginning of the one full revolution performed by camdisk 45 (Fig. 5) for eachmaehine operation, the roller B5 moves alongthe face toward the cam center so that lever (i3 turns counterclockwiseabout its pivot 643 and shifts the control bar I5 to the right, thuscausing the arms lll (Fig. 1) to raise the feed rollers .5 and platenmembers 9 into the active position as mentioned previously. At the endof its revolution, the cam disk 45 forces the roller 55 and hence thearm 53 back to the illustrated position (Fig. 5) for retracting theprinting devices to the inactive position.

` After the type members of the apparatus are set in the above-describedmanner so that spur gears 3l' are disengaged from gears 32 (Fig. l), andaiter a voucher or other slip of paper to be imprinted is placed inproper position into the range of the first pair of feed rollers E and6a at the right-hand side of the machine (Fig. l) the drive foractuating through shaft 53 the gear trains (Figs. 5, 6) of the printingdevices A, B, C

is ready for operation. This operation may be started in any knownmanner, for instance, by an operator-controllable push button whichcontrols the energizationvof an electric motor (not 6 shown) or effectsmechanically or by electric circuit means the closing of a couplingconnecting the main drive shaft 53 of the gear transmission with arunning motor. In the illustrated apparatus, the drive is released foroperation by placing the voucher or other object into the properposition against the first feed roller. To this end, the apparatus has apositioning or lay-on member '19 (Figs. 1, 3) which is designed as. afeeler so that its displacement, caused by the laidon voucher, releasesthe machine for operation by the above-mentioned drive motor.

The feel-er member 'lil is pivoted on a pin 'Il and a curved shape sothat normally its middle portion enters into one of the openings of theplate e (Fig. l). A shaft 54 (Figs. l, 7) of the driving mechanismcarries a locking disc 93 (Fig. 7) which is normally latched by alockingpawl S5 pivoted at 95 and biased by a soft spring 9.9. A rod 5?links the pawl 965 with an arm 98 rigidly joined with the feeler it.When the voucher is inserted beneath the raised free ends of the feeler,it shifts the feeler upwardly thus Ylifting the pawl 95 from disc 53thereby releasing the shaft Sli and hence the entire mechanism foroperation by the conventional manual crank drive or drive motor. Thefeeler ends define a frameshaped opening (Fig. 3) whose dimensions arein accordance with the individual surface areas of the object to beimprinted, such as the entry elds 6i, 82 of the receipt card 83 shown inFig. 4.

Fig. a shows in field 8l of card 83 an imprint giving an amount (73.75),a calendar date (17.6.55) and an identifying number printed by therespective type members A, B and C. In addition, the field 8l has astandard impression made by the cliche of type member C. The iield 52 issimilarly imprinted, except that a different cliche is used.

For causing the previously adjustedA printing devices of the apparatusto produce an imprint on any selected eld of the card, the operatorplaces the card upon the plate 4 so that the one Selected eld lies infront of the feeler member '55. By inserting the card, the feeler member1E] is raised and releases the machine for operation. Hence, when theoperator now starts the machine drive motor, the cam disk 45 startsrotating and causes the feed rollers to catch the card and advance itthrough the guide-way slot between plates (l and 2 to the other side ofthe apparatus. As the selected entry field of the card passes by thetype member A, the amount-(73.75) is printed, and as the same iieldpasses by members B and C, the datev (17.6.50) and the rest of theimpression are sequentially added. The angular position of the typemembers relative to one another is such that the component prints appearin the desired juxtaposition.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that my invention isreadily applicable for producing composite prints of any number ofcomponent impressions and that it may be modified in various respectsand embodied in apparatus other than the one specifically illustratedand described, without departing from the essential features of myinvention and within the scope of the claims annexed hereto.

I claim:

l. Value-printing apparatus, comprising a plurality of aligned printingdevices each having a revolvable type member and a revolvable platenmember, said type member of each device having type elements selectivelyadjustable, in accordance with the amount to be printed, to a givenplace at the periphery of said type member so as to face said platenmember of said device only in a given position of revolution of saidtype member, said platen member having a peripherally limited platenarea facing said type member only in a given position of revolution ofsaid platen member so that said two members are in printing conditiononly when said two positions coincide, feeding means having a guide-wayextending along said printing devices and between said two members ofeach device for passing an object to be imprinted between said members,and drive means having a transmission interconnecting said two membersof each device for revolving them simultaneously and in displaced phaserelation to said respective two members of each of said other printingdevices, said transmission having between the two members of each devicea transmission ratio diierent from unity so that only one impression isproduced by each of said devices during a plurality of full revolutionsof each member of said device, whereby said object is sequentiallyimprinted as it passes by said respective printing devices.

2. Value-printing apparatus, comprising a plurality of aligned printingdevices each having a type member and pertaining platen means, said typemembers being revolvable about respective parallel axes transverse tothe alignment direction, each of said type members having type elementsselectively adjustable to a given place at the periphery of the typemember so as to face the pertaining platen means only in a givenposition of revolution of said type member, said platen means having arevolvable member and having a platen area operatively adjacent to saidtype member only in a given position of revolution of said revolvablemember, feeding means having a guide-way extending between said typemember and said platen means for passing therebetween an object to beimprinted, transmission means interconnecting said respective typemembers with a unity transmission ratio and in phase displaced relationto one another for sequentially imprinting the object as it passes bysaid printing devices, and transmission means connecting each typemember with said revolvable member of the pertaining platen means andhaving a transmission ratio different from unity so that each deviceproduces only one impression during the passage of the object.

3. Value-printing apparatus, comprising a row of printing devices eachhaving a type member and a platen member both being revolvable aboutrespective parallel axes transverse to the row direction, each of saidtype members having type elements selectively adjustable to a givenplace at the periphery of said type member so as to face said platenmember only in a given position of revolution of said type member, saidplaten member having a peripherally limited platen area facing said typemember only in a given position of revolution of said platen member sothat said two members are in printing condition only when said twopositions coincide, feeding means for passing an object to be imprintedbetween said two members or each of said printing devices, and drivemeans connected with said feed means and having a first transmissionmechanism interconnecting said type members for cooperative rotation atequal speeds and a second transmission mechanism interconnecting eachpair of type and platen members for cooperative rotation and having atransmission ratio different from unity, said printing devices being inphase displaced relation to one another so that each devicev producesonly one impression during the passage of the object.

4. In a printing apparatus according to claim 2, said transmission meansbetween each type member and the pertaining platen member having atransmission ratio of 2:3.

5. Printing apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a movable feelermember for startcontrolling said drive means, said feeler member beingdisposed at the entrance of said guide-way and having a frame-shapedportion substantially matching the area to be imprinted on the object,said feeler member being engageable by the object to be moved thereby.

6. Value-printing apparatus, comprising a plurality of revolvable typemembers having respective parallel axes, revolvable platen memberscooperatively related to said respective type members, feed meansextending along said type members for passing an object to be imprintedbetween said type members and said platen members, each type member andeach platen member having respective peripherally-limited action areasopposite each other only at coincidence of given revolutionary positionsrespectively of said two members, bearing structures on which saidrespective platen members are revolvably mounted, said bearingstructures being movable for displacing said platen members toward andaway from said type members, stationarily journalled drive gearsconnected with said respective platen members, transmission meansconnecting said drive gears with said respective type members forsimultaneously revolving said type members and said platen members, saidtransmission means having between said type members and said platenmembers a transmission ratio smaller than unity and unity transmissionratio mechanism interconnecting said type members for cooperativerotation, said printing devices being in phase displaced relation to oneanother.

7. Value-printing apparatus, comprising a row of printing devices, eachof said devices having a revolvable type member and a revolvable platenmember, said two members of each device having respectiveperipherally-lirnited action areas opposite each other only atcoincidence of given revolutionary positions respectively of said twomembers, said type members having respective axes of revolution parallelto each other, feed means extending along said row of printing devicesfor passing an object to be imprinted between said type members and saidplaten members, said feed means having feed rollers adjacent to andcoaxial with said respective platen members to revolve togethertherewith, said platen member and said feed roller of each of saidprinting devices having a shaft in common, stationary support meansforming a pivot and having a pivot axis transverse to the axis of saidshaft, said shaft being movably mounted on said pivot at a point of theshaft spaced from said platen member and feed roller to permit movingsaid platen member and said feed roller about said pivot axis toward andaway from said type member, transmission means connecting each of saidshafts at said respective points with said respective type members andhaving a transmission ratio difierent from unity and unity transmissionratio mechanism interconnecting said type members for cooperativerotation, said printing devices being in phase displaced relation to oneanother.

8. Printing apparatus according to claim 6,

comprising spring means connected with said respeetive bearingstructures and biasing said bearing structures and said platen memberstoward said respective type members, a control element engaging saidrespective bearing structures for holding said platen members away fromsaid type members in opposition to said spring means, said controlelement being movable to a position in which said spring means arereleased for moving said platen members toward said respective typemembers, and drive means connected with said transmission means and withsaid control element for operating them in a given relation to eachother.

9. In combination with printing apparatus aoeording to claim l, saidobject to be imprinted consisting of a sheet having a multiplicity offields, all of the same size, to be selectively irnprinted, and saiddrive means comprising a feeler member for start-controlling said drivemeans, said feeler member being disposed at the entrance of saidguide-way and being operable by engage- 1i) ment with said sheet beinginserted, said feeler member being frame-shaped and having a frameopening of substantially the same size as said individual elds to serveas a lay-0n device for selecting the one eld to be imprinted at a time.

References Cit-ed in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSNumber Name Date 542,358 Carter July 9, 1895 711,590 Post Gct. 21, 19021,351,175 Lehr Aug. 31, 1920 1,506,242 Keller Aug. 26, 1924 1,643,608Priestly Sept. 27, 1927 2,307,264 Hamlin Jan. 5, 1943 2,517,868 GoodwinAug. 8, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 674,746 Germany Apr.21, 1939 824,656 France Feb. 14, 1938

